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Yogi Bhajan’s Chile Pepper Pilau

By Siri Ved Kaur Khalsa

This is the first dish I ever cooked for Yogiji when I began serving as his cook in 1971, following instructions for his recipe scribbled on a scrap of paper by one of his secretaries. I made it for him every day for several weeks. He liked it with cottage cheese on the side. Thls dish is good for kidneys, digestion, and detox.

Yield: 2 – 4 servings

Ingredients:

5 slices peeled fresh ginger

2 ½ cups water

2 onions, chopped in thin strips

¼ cup oil or ghee

1 rounded teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin or caraway seeds

½ teaspoon celery seeds

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

2 long green Anaheim or Hatch chiles, chopped

1 yellow wax pepper (hot), chopped

1 cup basmati rice, well rinsed and drained

½ teaspoon salt

Boil ginger in water for 10 minutes. Drain, reserving ginger broth. Measure the broth and if necessary add enough water to make 2 cups.

Finely chop the boiled ginger.

Heat oil or ghee in a heavy 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat and add chopped ginger and onion.

Saute until lightly browned.

Add spices and cook, stirring, for 2 more minutes.

Add chopped chiles and rice and fry over high heat, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes more.

Add the 2 cups of ginger broth.

Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce the flame to low. Cook for 12-15 minutes.

Remove from heat, and set aside, covered, for at least 5 minutes more.

Fluff with a fork.

Chile Pepper & Vegetable Pilau

Follow the Chile Pepper Pilau recipe. Add 2 cups of finely chopped vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, peas. mushrooms, zucchini) with the chopped chiles. Saute for a minute or two, add rice, and then continue with the recipe as directed.

Siri Ved Kaur has been a part of the 3HO/Sikh Dharma community since 1971, when she served as Yogi Bhajan’s personal cook for several years. She has authored three cookbooks (Conscious Cookery - 1978, From Vegetables with Love – 1989, and From Vegetables, with Love: Recipes & Tales from a Yogi’s Kitchen - 2015) and written numerous columns for Beads of Truth, Aquarian Times, YogaMint, and HealthWorld Online. Mother of three grown daughters, she now resides in Bakersfield, California with her husband, Gurujodha Singh. http://consciouscookery101.com/